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Fragile Oasis is the name of a collective who describe themselves as "...a grass-roots participatory initiative that connects the shared perspective of astronauts from different countries and cultures with people on Earth, encouraging all to work together so that our planet is not only visibly beautiful, but beautiful for all".Many involved in the project are astronauts on the International Space Station (I.S.S.), who post, on their website (http://www.fragileoasis.org) many different details of their experiments, photos from space, and some incredible video footage of our Earth.Each of the five sections of this work relate to an aspect of on of these videos - either something literal or something more metaphorical. The opening section, i: The lights from Above, is a musical description of the view of the Aurora Australis from above the lights. The second section, ii: The Storm from Above (part i), is also a musical portrayal of portions of the video clip - in this case the many lightning storms we see from above. The storms that are so powerful on Earth appear as small bolts of electricity dancing through the clouds.

'Dutch Christmas Song' is an arrangement of the old Dutch song 'Hoe leit dit Kindeke' (Vlaanderen, 1897). The tender, almost fragile words have been movingly honoured by Timothy Travis. The addition of percussion gives this lovely Christmas song a modern touch.

Where Angels Fly was commissioned by VLAMO (Flemish Band Association). Kevin Houben wrote this work for the 2017 European Brass Band Championships in Ostend, Belgium. This is a very technical, powerful and virtuosic work with a rather fragile and soft introduction in which the main motif - derived from the Belgian composer Paul Gilson's (1865-1942) La Priere from Le Retour au Pays - is developed and also includes Houben's own musical signature 'HBE(N)'. Where Angels Fly is a challenging, impressive and virtuosic contest piece.